


holding to the ground

by nickybottom



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: give me an official character tag for marion thomas i just want to know what i should put for him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-06 04:09:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16381106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickybottom/pseuds/nickybottom
Summary: Marion Hawkins watches the world change around him.Or, a minor character study in one principal, one PTA, and a couple of lesbians.





	holding to the ground

**Author's Note:**

> Couple of things here:  
> 1\. Pour one out for Marion Thomas Hawkins. I know he's still gonna be alive, but the Atlanta interpretation is going to be less valid in about one day when we get an audio of the Broadway version.  
> 2\. Partially dedicated to my pal Ana, or @piestrudel on tumblr. You have no idea that I'm writing this but like. You were the creator of Party Mike.  
> 3\. Also shoutouts to Grey, or @condescending-artist on tumblr because he gave me Mrs. Greene's first name!  
> 4\. Sorry that none of my fanfics are like. About Emma and Alyssa. I just like Marion Thomas okay and I wrote this in about an hour sitting in my dorm room so liiike don't judge  
> 5\. ALSO FUCK THE LETTERMAN JACKET THAT'S IN THE NEW CURTAIN CALL #BRINGBACKTHETWEED I HAVE REASONS AND ONE DAY I WILL DISCUSS THEM on my blog! @martinmoran on tumblr. follow me for hot takes about the prom that aren't actually that hot.

Marion Thomas Hawkins begins to notice that the world is shifting. Well, not the world, just a small town in the middle of nowhere, and a PTA, and maybe his life, a bit.

It began when Amy Greene’s daughter walked into James Madison, and- well, actually, no, it began when Amy Greene walked into the JMHS PTA meeting, and somehow got elected president on day one when they were choosing the roles for the year. It began when she brought an entourage to a PTA meeting. It began when she (and the entourage) brought up the idea to change the policy for the prom, to specify the non-revealing dresses and the tuxes and the heteronormativity.

It began when Marion was too quiet to speak out about it.

But the world is shifting, and Marion is just watching it.

It’s funny—not funny, just interesting— he thinks. The more the world leans towards giving rights to LGBTQ+ people, the more Amy Greene tries to take away their rights at James Madison. The GSA’s funding is cut to pay for the football team’s new uniforms, she tries (and fails) to get him to build a whole other bathroom for transgender students, and days after Emma Nolan comes out, he gets her storming into his office, demanding that she be expelled for “disorderly conduct” and saying that she doesn’t want a lesbian “corrupting the mind of her precious Alyssa”.

(In the grand aftermath of the prom and everything that followed, all he can think about is that conversation. Emma didn’t corrupt Alyssa, but Emma woke up something in her, that was for sure. And he was so proud.)

And in the moment after she says that, he bites his tongue. He has to. There is a part of him screaming to say something, to tell her about Michael Johnson from college, stupid Michael Johnson, who wanted everyone to call him “Party Mike” and who was the first person that Marion ever fell for. He wants to tell her that actually, her precious little Alyssa was already being corrupted by- by- by the “Bisexual Agenda”. That would sound cool. And then he would tell her to fuck off and get out of his office.

His one chance to finally make a mark. To finally show Amy Greene that he wouldn’t indefinitely put up with her bullshit.

But he bites his tongue. Instead, he politely informs her in no uncertain terms that Emma Nolan will not be kicked out of James Madison High School because of her sexual orientation.

The entourage increases in size after that. And he begins to notice people in it wearing “MAGA” hats and Marion Thomas Hawkins is not sure if he wants to live in this town anymore.

Until Emma Nolan comes to his door, knocks, comes in, and asks if, in the hypothetical sense, she could bring her girlfriend to their senior prom.

He knows the answer, knows what Amy will say and what the JMHS PTA will do to him when he asks. He can already see the whole aftermath of this, with him leaving Edgewater-Heaven, Indiana to go somewhere better, and Emma Nolan going to college somewhere far enough away that she’ll never have to worry about these homophobes again.

Maybe he’ll finally go to New York, go to every show with Dee Dee Allen in it that he can, and try to forget the debacle will be the James Madison High School 2017 prom.

But for the moment, he has a choice to make. And Marion Thomas Hawkins lies. He looks her in the eye, says “Of course you can bring your girlfriend! I’ll just have to talk to the PTA.” and the absolute hope in Emma Nolan’s eyes makes it worth it.

And until the world shifts hard enough for him to fall over, he has the hope of a teenage girl and the dream of an escape from this town and the hope that Eleanor: The Musical will be enough of a hit that when he finally gets out, the first thing he can do is go see it.

And before he steps into that gym, and before he asks Amy and the PTA to allow this girl to do what she wants, that’s all he can think about. Eleanor, and Dee Dee Allen, and a stupid (lovely) press video where she said, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

And he steps into the gym and feels the world begin to shift again.

**Author's Note:**

> oh also! This is innately dedicated to that person who brought up my prom fanfic in the notes for their prom fanfic??? Like I know my last one wasn't Good but like. That one hurt dude. I wrote a legitimate Prom fanfiction. and now i wrote this one for you.  
> again, pour one out for Marion Thomas Hawkins and pour one out for Marty Moran. Love ya dude.


End file.
